Songwriter: Shel Silverstein
Producer: Ron Haffkine
[Verse 1]
Sylvia's mother says Sylvia's busy
Too busy to come to the phone
Sylvia's mother says Sylvia's trying
To start a new life of her own
Sylvia's mother says Sylvia's happy
So why don't you leave her alone?
And the operator says forty cents more
For the next three minutes
[Chorus]
Please, Mrs. Avery, I just gotta talk to her
I'll only keep her a while
Please, Mrs. Avery, I just want to tell her goodbye
[Verse 2]
Sylvia's mother says Sylvia's packing
She's gonna be leaving today
Sylvia's mother says Sylvia's marrying
A fella down Galveston way
Sylvia's mother says please don't say nothing
To make her start crying and stay
And the operator says forty cents more
For the next three minutes
[Chorus]
Please, Mrs. Avery, I just gotta talk to her
I'll only keep her a while
Please, Mrs. Avery, I just want to tell her goodbye
[Verse 3]
Sylvia's mother says Sylvia's hurrying
She's catching the nine o'clock train
Sylvia's mother says take your umbrella
'Cause, Sylvie, it's starting to rain
And Sylvia's mother says thank you for calling
And, sir, won't you call back again?
And the operator says forty cents more
For the next three minutes
[Chorus]
Please, Mrs. Avery, I just gotta talk to her
I'll only keep her a while
Please, Mrs. Avery, I just want to tell her goodbye
Tell her goodbye
Please, tell her goodbye
Sylvia's mother says Sylvia's busy
Too busy to come to the phone
Sylvia's mother says Sylvia's trying
To start a new life of her own
Sylvia's mother says Sylvia's happy
So why don't you leave her alone?
And the operator says forty cents more
For the next three minutes
[Chorus]
Please, Mrs. Avery, I just gotta talk to her
I'll only keep her a while
Please, Mrs. Avery, I just want to tell her goodbye
[Verse 2]
Sylvia's mother says Sylvia's packing
She's gonna be leaving today
Sylvia's mother says Sylvia's marrying
A fella down Galveston way
Sylvia's mother says please don't say nothing
To make her start crying and stay
And the operator says forty cents more
For the next three minutes
[Chorus]
Please, Mrs. Avery, I just gotta talk to her
I'll only keep her a while
Please, Mrs. Avery, I just want to tell her goodbye
[Verse 3]
Sylvia's mother says Sylvia's hurrying
She's catching the nine o'clock train
Sylvia's mother says take your umbrella
'Cause, Sylvie, it's starting to rain
And Sylvia's mother says thank you for calling
And, sir, won't you call back again?
And the operator says forty cents more
For the next three minutes
[Chorus]
Please, Mrs. Avery, I just gotta talk to her
I'll only keep her a while
Please, Mrs. Avery, I just want to tell her goodbye
Tell her goodbye
Please, tell her goodbye
Pleasure & Pain The History Of Dr. Hook
- Here Comes The Blues Again
- Sweetest of All
- Everybody Loves Me
- I Don’t Feel Much Like Smilin’
- If Not You
- The Ballad of Lucy Jordon
- The Radio
- Lonely Man
- Better Love Next Time
- Stuck on the Wrong Side of Love
- Love Monster
- Jungle to the Zoo
- I Gave Her Comfort
- What About You
- Stagolee
- Everybody’s Making It Big But Me
- You Make My Pants Want To Get Up And Dance
- What Do You Want?
- Clyde
- Making Love and Music
- Levitate
- There’s a Light
- Storms Never Last
- I Never Got to Know Her
- Years From Now
- Sylvia’s Mother
- I Don’t Want to Be Alone Tonight
- Girls Can Get It
- A Couple More Years
- Pleasure and Pain
- The Millionaire
- I’ve Been Him
- Bread Upon the Water
- I Got Stoned and I Missed It
- Rings of Grass
- The Cover of the “Rolling Stone”
- Knowing She’s There
- Sleeping Late
- In Over My Head
- You Can’t Take It With You
- Walking My Cat Named Dog
- Lay Too Low Too Long
- When You’re in Love with a Beautiful Woman
- Only Sixteen
- I Need the High (But I Can’t Stand the Taste)
- I’m a Lamb
- More Like the Movies
- Cooky and Lila
- Oh! Jesse
- Sharing the Night Together
- I Couldn’t Believe
- Let the Loose End Drag
- Walk Right In
- A Little Bit More
- Baby Makes Her Blue Jeans Talk
- Feels Good
- That Plane
- Sexy Eyes
- The Shadow Knows
- Mountain Mary
- Carry Me, Carrie
- Doctor Hook (1972)
- 20 Dynamic Hits (1973)
- The Ballad of Lucy Jordon (1975)
- The Best Of Dr. Hook And The Medicine Show (1976)
- Dr. Hook Greatest Hits (And More) (1987)
- Super Hits Of The ’70s: Have A Nice, Day, Vol. 8 (1990)
- Greatest Hits (1992)
- Greatest Hits (1995) (1995)
- Pleasure & Pain The History Of Dr. Hook (1996)
- Love Songs (1998)
- 70s 100 Hits (2010)
- Timeless (2014)
- Icon (2014)
- NOW 100 Hits Country [UK] (2020)
- NOW That’s What I Call Country 2 [UK] (2021)
- Mellow 70's Gold (2021)
- Sylvia’s Mother
- Sharing the Night Together
- The Cover of the “Rolling Stone”
- Sexy Eyes
- Storms Never Last
- A Little Bit More
- When You’re in Love with a Beautiful Woman
- The Ugliest Man In Town
- Chained to Her Memory
- Up on the Mountain
- Bread Upon the Water
- Love You Now
- I’m a Lamb
- More Like the Movies
- The Things I Didn’t Say
- Help Me Mama
- Mountain Mary
- Do You Right Tonight
- The Shadow Knows
- Monterey Jack
- That Plane
- Dooley Jones
- Feels Good
- Last Mornin’